How to Plan Your Annual Content Calendar

It’s near impossible to know what type of content will be popular week to week. Trends fade in and fade out, and current events change daily. But if done right, you can leverage seasonal events to catch the wave of predictable trends.

Here’s how to plan your annual content calendar to take advantage of seasonal events.

The key to success with seasonal content is timing. Being top of mind, at the right time, is crucial to eaing the greatest views and driving the most traffic to your site.

We’ve pinpointed the ideal times to plan, publish, and promote content around seasonal events.

Not only will this help you organize your annual content calendar, it will help you craft the most relevant content for your readers at exactly the right time. As a result, you’re more likely to see a boost in site traffic, SEO, and general brand awareness.

Here are 6 key takeaways to help you organize your annual content calendar for 2016:

• More than 6 MILLION pieces of content were published around 20 annual events in 2015
• That content received more than 534 MILLION social shares
• The majority of publishing around an annual event happens during a 26-day range
• Typically, ¾ of those 26 publishing days are before an event and ¼ of the days are after the event
• Halloween, Christmas, and New Year’s make up 57% of all the event-related content for 20 annual events in 2015
• Video was the most-shared content format for 40% of all annual events

View the full infographic below.

Download Your Free 2016 Content Calendar

Optimize your content planning and promotion all year long by downloading your free 2016 Annual Content Calendar + Planner. You’ll receive:

• 2016 Calendar with major annual events
• Optimal publication and promotion timelines
• Most successful content types by month, with examples
• Monthly planning documents for January through December

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer is Marketing Coordinator at Alexa. With a knack for syntax and passion for building connections, she drives daily content strategy to bring you the latest and greatest happenings within Alexa and the wide world of web analytics and marketing.

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